TALLAHASSEE: State Senator Lauren Book has decided to fight back after almost being extorted to reveal nude photos that were stolen from her.
According to NBC News, Book has been victimized. During the investigation, she learned that the images had been bought and traded online since 2020. “I hate that this happened to me,” Book said in an interview. “I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. But I’ll take it, because I know that I can do something about it,” she added.
Now, Book is taking action as only a legislator can. The bill sponsored by Book, a Democrat, gets its first committee hearing Tuesday. It would strengthen Florida’s revenge porn law by making it a felony to buy, sell or trade stolen sexually explicit images from someone’s phone or other digital devices. It would also make disseminating altered or created sexually explicit images, known as deepfakes, a felony.
Book vented her anger in the phone interview with the AP Monday night as she described the international trade and sale of images stolen from people without their knowledge.
She called it a sick, perverted subculture that pays more for images of celebrities and elected officials, but which also victimizes women who aren’t well known.
“Truth be told, if it weren’t for my children, I would have ended my life,” she said. “It brought up all of the stuff. All of it that you think that you’ve gotten under your belt, that you’ve fixed it and you’ve changed it and then all of a sudden here it is in front of your face,” she said.
“They were reading about who I was and talking about how I’m a survivor of rape, so let’s try to get some rape videos. Can we get some of her getting raped, killed, tortured? Can we make some of that? Can we find it? How can we get it?” Book said.
